Friday, 3 June 2011

The Housman Hundred

Well I did it and it was as tough as expected but not more so. This is my first 100 miler so for me the following came as a shock.

1. seeing people throwing up in the middle of the night, by food tables and telling me in a happy manner how they spent 2 hours in the loo throwing up.
2. Walking straight into a Jersey cow at 3am (made me jump somewhat)
3. Eating what i'd eat on an average lunch every 8 or 10 miles (although to be honest I'm glad of that)

It was an amazing event, some truly outstanding people in the field and the marshall's really looked after us. Near the last few legs they took the time to check on each runner, make sure they had food and enough water for the rest of the run. The whole course had quite allot of ascent I think the average per 8 mile leg must have been around the 1400ft mark. You were either going up or going down and the down was just as hard on the legs at times. Also stiles! By the end I was struggling to get my leg up but still somehow managed.

I managed to consume the free ale at the end as the first thing that touched my lips after the finish, glad I stuck to that it was well worth it. Although at 85 I didn't think I could have stomached it. At the 85 mile mark I felt sick and empty, I could barely walk so I tried eating some sweets and drinking some coffee. Which I managed to keep down and then a fellow runner who I met on the way: Tracy gave me some ibuprofen and after a few mins of stumbling and walking and saying "I might not be able to move any faster so you go on" I pulled myself together and ran. Luckily the last 15 miles were fairly flat (apart from one massive hill at the end OF COURSE!) and we really did put an effort in.

All in all tough very very tough. I said to my dad "It wasn't like the feeling you get at the end of a marathon, it was more like just being glad you didn't give up at any point and survived". Well that may be in experience talking but that's how I felt. Very happy with my time: 27:07 and about 11th from what I can work out from the results. The winner finished in 22! Crazy! I said hi to him at check point 2 while eating a cheese sandwich. He was making that sandwich fly!!

Oh before I forget, thanks to everyone who sponsored me: http://www.justgiving.com/roger100
I've raised more than I ever imagined. My aim here wasn't to see how much I could raise that's why the target was £100. There are plenty of people in the world who'd raise 10k for a 10k but how many raise £100 for 100miles? I wanted to make this stand out in a different way. This was purely a statement for me and everyone who know's me and knew my mother. I wanted to do something to remember her by.